“The World Championship was just the icing on the cake for me. Baking the cake together was the main thing. In that, everyone helped and supported each other. We were a team from the players through coaching to the support staff and the union, from right to left and top to bottom. That was the most meaningful thing for me.”
This is what the Finnish head coach of the German national basketball team says by Gordon Herbert speech in the handsome Eine Nacht aus Gold (Night made of gold) picture book, which was made and printed by the basketball association of the world champion country shortly after the World Cup final played in Manila, Philippines.
Four months after the Games, the view had not changed when Urheilu visited Herbert’s vacation home in Pyhämaa near Uusikaupunki. The frost hit the shore of the Selkämere at 22 degrees; the snow was crunching, everything was frozen.
– In the evening I saw my son Michael’s with avanno, we take a sauna and go there, Herbert, who received Finnish citizenship in 1989, tells about one of his very Finnish hobbies.
Herbert’s other hobbies include walking with poles in the cabin, making firewood and watching nature.
From his townhouse apartment in Uustakaupunki, Herbert, on the other hand, likes to go outside in the winter to play sledding.
He has not played basketball for 25 years, for health reasons.
The ultimate memory
From the fairy-tale World Cup adventure, which culminated in a final victory over Serbia and a semi-final victory over the USA, Herbert remembers the same thing as many coaches who have achieved something so great.
– Team unity, friendship and chemistry are the things I remember best. At least 10 players already know that they will also be part of the Paris Olympic team, if they are healthy, says the head coach who arrived in Finland at the end of December and works remotely from the cottage.
Herbert acquired the almost two-hectare wooded land with buildings four years ago with his wife at the time after seeing an advertisement in the local newspaper. The terrace view opens directly to the open sea, there are plenty of different things to do and activities to do.
This is where Herbert, 64, plans to spend his retirement days as well. After next year, however, he wants one more top-level club player from Europe before retiring. The German national team plans to continue to the 2025 European Championships.
Another son, Danielworks as an assistant coach of the German Bundesliga club Crailsheim. Lindsay-daughter’s sons, Gordon Herbert’s grandchildren, play basketball in Idaho, USA, where the daughter’s family lives.
Father’s career is unparalleled in its internationality. Herbert left Canada at the age of 18 to go to university in Idaho and came to Finland to play in 1982, in Hyvinkää Tahko. In 1984, he represented Canada at the Los Angeles Olympics and played himself Michael Jordan against. In addition to Finland, he has done coaching work in Germany, Canada, USA (NBA club Toronto Raptors), Greece, Georgia, Austria, France and Russia.
Nothing the same
Herbert, who prefers to retire to Uusikaupunki, has come across actual fame in Finland only after the winning World Cup team arrived home. Nothing was the same. The head coach was rushed from place to place so that he didn’t even have time to visit Berlin to meet the Chancellor Olaf Scholzalthough the German leader separately invited.
– When I’ve been to Germany to watch league games, there have been security guards around my chair to keep people away. It has seemed very confusing, Herbert laughs.
The iconic picture was taken at the World Cup after the final, when Herbert was the man around whom the chairs were taken. Lope’s exhausted head coach had to sit on the floor to gasp for oxygen and digest what happened.
When Germany’s traditional totem, the national football team, has famously only flopped in recent years, the winning coach’s words have become literally worth their weight in gold. Herbert says that he has given half a dozen “motivational speeches” to various paying audiences.
– I’ve probably earned from them the same as my salary from the German Basketball Association. I have learned and understood a lot of things while writing presentations, says the head coach, who only operates in English in Germany.
A biography in the making
There is more than a picture book in the works about Herbert’s work, i.e. a biography in German, which thoroughly reviews the man’s management philosophies.
There is no dark suit dress code at the Pyhämaan cottage, but on Thursday Herbert dons one and arrives at the Helsinki ice rink. He is a top candidate for Coach of the Year. At least in team sports, the Finnish coach had not achieved anything comparable to the World Cup gold in basketball. Herbert, who only travels to his native country with a Canadian passport, hadn’t started preparing his thank-you speech a week before the gala. Of course, there were tips:
– My ex-wife said that I should practice the Finnish language, Herbert says with a broad smile.
He emphasizes that he does not consider himself a “sure” winner in any way.
– All the candidates have done a really good job, and everyone is worth choosing.
The other candidates are a volleyball coach Tuomas Sammelvuoathletics coach Jarno Koivunentennis coach Jarkko Nieminen and Herbert’s colleague Tuomas Iisalo. The elder statesman from Iisalo predicts the leading coaching name in Europe by the end of the decade.
The gala visit was cancelled
The Sports Gala of the German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB) takes place every December in Baden-Baden. This time, Herbert already knew a couple of weeks before the gala that the selection of Coach of the Year has fallen to him. But the gala visit was canceled at the last minute on December 16.
– I received information that my 91-year-old mother has died. I wasn’t in a festive mood.
Herbert tells a funny anecdote: he already knew when he came to Hyvinkää in 1982 that javelin throwing is a national sport in Finland.
– My mother held the Saskatchewan provincial javelin record. He was a tough athlete in several sports. When I started coaching, he always remembered to tell me what I had done wrong, Herbert remembers with longing and love in his voice.
– Fortunately, I visited Canada in October, and mother was still in good spirits.
He admits that the recognition award in a country of 83 million inhabitants felt very good. Another thing has seemed even better:
– For the Germans, I am specifically a Finnish coach. I’m happy about that.
Having lived in Finland for a long time, Herbert is used to severe frosts.
The holiday home is heated with firewood made by Herbert.
The bitter cold has frozen Herbert’s only indoor toilet in Pyhämaa, but the two outdoor rooms would be in use. The host plays with the idea that his star player, who earns 11.6 million NBA euros per year in the Toronto Raptors Dennis Schroeder would come to the village.
– My star player would turn away from the door. Then we would hear how a nice car leaves the lot.
Schröder is a megastar of German basketball, whose amazing playing skills Herbert decided to use even more optimally for the team before the World Cup.
– I made him captain, and the choice hit the spot. He considered it a huge honor, which was also reflected on the field.
In Germany, Herbert lives in an apartment hotel in Hagen, where the headquarters of the basketball association is also located. He will assemble his team without NBA players next time in the so-called FIBA (International Basketball Federation) national team window in February.
In March, Herbert travels to North America to meet German NBA players, one of whom in particular is an interesting case: the New York Knicks Isaiah Hartenstein. He showed no interest in playing for the national team either in the European Championship 2022 (Germany was third) or in last fall’s World Championship.
– He is a great player, but before I push anyone who is 110% committed to the national team out of his way, I have to make sure that his motives are right. I’m not at all sure I’ll take her to Paris.
At the Olympic Games in Paris next summer, men’s basketball is the sport that the host country wants to win above all. The USA will be a significantly better quality team than at the World Cup. In addition, Herbert mentions e.g. Spain, Greece and Serbia.
– It’s going to be a great tournament, and we’re aiming for the same thing as the World Championships, i.e. gold.
will show the Sports Gala live on Thursday, January 11. The broadcast of the gala starts on TV2, Areena and the app at 20:00. The opening night of the gala will be watched on Areena and the app from 18:00.